I have an old set of TP factory mags I would like to restore

they have tarnish and some sort of clear stuff peeling off them (looks like clear coat)

what off the shelf products are available for making old mags come up new


Does anyone know how the rim repair places do the trick ...chemical dip ?

Braso?

Armorall glass wipes are the best

I picked up some turtle wax wheel cleaner to use on my wheels as they had bad baked on brake dust that wouldn't budge, sprayed it on, scrubbed with a wheel brush, hosed off and all gone like magic. And maybe some brite shine after that, you know the wool stuff in the tin.

If the clear coat is coming off, no off-the-shelf product is going to fix it.

I'm not sure exactly what the tarnation is. However, if it's similar to oxidisation in a clear coat on body paint, a polish with a bit of cut in it might remove it.

Ive done a set in the past but it aint no fun.

I had to sand off the clear coat then wet sand the wheels using finer and finer paper.

Then it was metal polish till they were shiny, a clean up with wax and grease remover, a couple of coats of clears mixed about 2.5:1 thinners to clears.

It took aaaaaaaaaaaages. :nuts:

Id practice on a spare dead mag first, that way if you give up it doesnt matter. :D

yes Red Valdez sort of aluminium powder mixed with road grit and grease
on the inside of the mag

what about a steam cleaner ?

Ill try the fine grit wet and dry as well to remove the clear coat

just had another look at them and it is going to take aaaaaaaaaaaages.

I have a good friend who spent 30 years restoring and repairing alloys. Yes, restoration shops chemically strip the wheel or use soda blasting (which is best as it only goes for the paint and removes no alloy). Tihs is usually followed by a light diamond cutter machining to smooth surfaces to be polished. Then it's onto a buffer wheel to polish. Final step is to apply black or coloured highlight paint if that was on the original wheel, followed by clearcoat.

The tip is that you will not get close to the factory finish trying to do it yourself, but that getting a reputable shop to do this for you is much cheaper than you'd think. The Wheel Factory in Fyshwick here in Canberra is one such shop and was the one owned by my mate till he retired.

just had another look at them and it is going to take aaaaaaaaaaaages.

Having just done one wheel this way, I can agree....it'll take ages. :badgrin:

I started at 180 grit and slowly worked my way up to 1200. Wheel doesn't look too bad now.

What polish do people recommend to use after sanding & what clearcoat have people used?

Having just done one wheel this way, I can agree....it'll take ages. :badgrin:

I started at 180 grit and slowly worked my way up to 1200. Wheel doesn't look too bad now.

What polish do people recommend to use after sanding & what clearcoat have people used?
You need a bench polishing/grinding unit (I went out and bought one for $120 to do my inlet manifold - see currently active thread on Magna Mods page). Then you need to buy some Josco buffing wheels. You start with a stitched rag wheel with brown 'Tripoli' compound. Next buy a white loose leaf cloth buff and use white high polish compound. And never use more than one compound type with one wheel. Final step is to hit the polished surface with Prepsol and hand it to your favouite panel shop for a coat of 2 Pack clear designed for wheel finishing (has higher resistance to brake dust etching than body panel clearcoat). Or you can leave the wheel uncoated and just use Autosol polish on a soft cloth and polish by hand whenever you wash the car (which is what I do to my inlet manifold).

Yes Autosol's good stuff,on jobs that are'nt too far gone use it with steel-wool then cloth.